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In the Commonwealth Realms, a Crown corporation is a state-controlled company or enterprise. This article mainly deals with Canadian Crown corporations since the term is most widely used in Canada. Equivalent names in other jurisdictions include Government trading enterprises, Government-owned corporations, Nationalization and State-owned enterprises.

Crown corporations, in theory, are owned by the Canadian Sovereign. However, this is based on the legal technicality that the Crown, as an institution, owns all the property of government. These corporations do not belong to the Queen personally, but to the governments of the respective jurisdictions over which she reigns. Crown corporations operate on a day-to-day basis at arm's length from the government; direct control by government is exerted only over the corporation's budget and the appointment of its chairperson and directors.

In Canada, Crown corporations are operated both by provincial governments (the Crown-in-Right-of-Ontario, for example) and the federal government (the Crown-in-Right-of-Canada), as a means to pursue economic, social and political objectives. Canadian Crown corporations are involved in everything from the distribution, use, and price of certain goods and services, to energy development, resource extraction, public transportation, cultural promotion, and property management. They are also frequently used to give governments access to financial markets to provide financing for development and capital projects.

Two of the most significant Canadian Crown corporations of the 20th century were the Canadian National Railway and Air Canada. Both were privatized and are now publicly traded corporations. Other significant Crown corporations include the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, VIA Rail, Canada Post Corporation and Marine Atlantic.

The importance of Crown corporations in the economy has declined in recent years, as a number of significant privatizations have occurred, particularly at the federal level. The heyday of government use of Crown corporations was the period from 1918 (Canadian National Railway being the first) through to 1981 (with Canada Post turned into a Crown Corporation).

Examples of federal Crown corporations in Canada [1]:

• Atlantic Pilotage Authority
• Atomic Energy of Canada Limited, also known as AECL
• Bank of Canada/Banque du Canada
• Blue Water Bridge Authority
• Business Development Bank of Canada, also known as BDB
• Canada Council for the Arts, commonly known as Canada Council
• Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation
• Canada Development Investment Corporation
• Canada Lands Company Limited
• Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation
• Canada Pension Plan Investment Board
• Canada Post Corporation
• Canada Science and Technology Museum Corporation
• Canadian Air Transport Security Authority, also known as CATSA
• Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, also known as CBC
• Canadian Commercial Corporation
• Canadian Dairy Commission
• Canadian Museum of Civilization
• Canadian Museum of Nature
• Canadian Race Relations Foundation
• Canadian Tourism Commission
• Cape Breton Growth Fund Corporation
• Defence Construction (1951) Limited
• Enterprise Cape Breton Corporation
• Export Development Canada
• Farm Credit Canada
• Freshwater Fish Marketing Corporation
• Great Lakes Pilotage Authority
• International Development Research Centre
• Laurentian Pilotage Authority
• Marine Atlantic Inc.
• National Arts Centre Corporation
• National Capital Commission
• National Film Board of Canada
• National Gallery of Canada
• National Museum of Science and Technology
• Old Port of Montreal Corporation Inc.
• Pacific Pilotage Authority
• Parc Downsview Park Inc.
• Public Sector Pension Investment Board
• Ridley Terminals Inc.
• Royal Canadian Mint
• Standards Council of Canada
• Telefilm Canada
• VIA Rail Canada Inc

Examples of provincial Crown corporations in Canada:

• Alberta Investment Management
• Alberta Treasury Branches
• BC Hydro
• GO Transit
• Hydro One
• Hydro-Québec
• Insurance Corporation of British Columbia (ICBC)
• Liquor Control Board of Ontario
• Manitoba Hydro
• Manitoba Public Insurance Corp.
• NB Power
• Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro
• Ontario Northland Railway
• Ontario Hydro
• Ontario Clean Water Agency
• Saskatchewan Government Insurance (SGI)
• SaskEnergy
• SaskPower
• SaskTel
• Saskatchewan Transportation Company (STC)
• Société de transport de Montréal
• Société des alcools du Québec
• Sydney Steel Corporation
• TVOntario

See also: List of privatizations

Several Canadian companies used to be Crown corporations but are now privatized, examples being:

• Air Canada
• Alberta Government Telephones
• BC Ferries
• Cameco Corporation
• Canadian National Railway
• Manitoba Telephone System
• Nova Scotia Power
• Petro-Canada
• Polymer corporation
• Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan (PCS)
• Saskatchewan Government Airways
• Teleglobe
• Telus
• Wascana Energy

(not Crown Corporations)

• Canadian Space Agency
• Toronto Port Authority

• Structure of the Canadian federal government
• Nationalization
• Executive Agency

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